Fun with Foreign Languages: Difference between revisions

{{quote|'''Brendan Shanahan:''' On our team,<ref>The Detroit Red Wings, for those unfamiliar with 90s [[Ice Hockey|hockey]]</ref> we have Russians, Germans, Swedes - you name it, we got it. [[Tempting Fate|And we're all one big happy family]].<br />

'''Sergei Fedorov:''' ''(in Russian)'' Go to hell, Shanahan. You freak.<ref>Well, he actually says "Sup, Shan, go skate in the skies!" So that's double mistranslation for you!</ref><br />

'''Brendan Shanahan:''' [[Tactful Translation|That means "Shanahan is a good and great man."]] ''(to Fedorov)'' I love you, too, my brother!|[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yetl55p9LQY A mid-90's ESPN commercial.]}}

* Done in ''Impulse'' when Bart Allen "teaches" his mentor Interlac.

'''[[Da Chief|High Ranking Police Boss]]''': "WHAT did you say?"<br />

'''Charlie''': "He means 'a tough motherfucker'."<br />

* In the 1985 comedy ''[[Water]]'', American oil executives land on the island of Cascara and come across the local radical liberation front -- allfront—all two of them (one of whom is Billy Connolly, whose character only communicates through [[Dreadful Musician|bad singing]]).

* Somewhat similar to the ''[[George of the Jungle]]'' example, in ''[[Wizards of Waverly Place]]'' the movie Alex can't understand the locals, but uses a spell to create a literal caption floating in the air that translates for her, but while she is right about them talking about the cave, they also talk about how she's a strange girl and maybe if they just smile and nod she'll go away.

* ''Meteor'' (1979). A Russian scientist is meeting with a U.S. [[General Ripper]] to begin politically sensitive negotiations to aim nuclear missiles at the oncoming [[Death From Above]]. Each side has their "English voice" and "Russian voice", both speaking at the same time to avoid accusations of duplicity. Eventually [[Sean Connery]] gets tired of the babble and just has them speaking English with the pretty female Russian translating -- attranslating—at the end the general turns to his Russian voice and demands, "Is that what I said?" The translator just says, "[[Translation: "Yes"|Yes]]."

*** Later in the same book, in a deliberate nod to JFK, Vimes attempts to say "I am a citizen of Borogravia" and instead comes out with "I am a cherry pancake." Being Vimes, it doesn't bother him too much.

* In one [[Darkover]] novel it's mentioned that a particular Darkovan phrase, which translates literally as "friend and brother", is forbidden to diplomats from the Terran Empire. The everyday inflection would be acceptable, but it's too easy to say it with the inflection that makes it mean "brother" in the familial sense -- orsense—or the one that makes it mean "same-sex lover".

* ''[[Ally McBeal]]'': Lucy Liu, arguing a case, purports to be relating a Chinese proverb. The subtitles reveal that she is, in fact, simply describing her plan to win sympathy from the jury by using her tone to convey that she's saying something deep and meaningful while actually saying nothing of consequence, because "None of you speak Chinese."

* ''[[WhosWho's theThe Boss?]]'', "Tony the Nanny": Tony Danza theorizes that Italian-speaking uncle Vito Scotti thinks that he's to blame for Scotti's daughter standing up to him regarding her fiancé, and he's right (according to Scotti's daughter's interpretation).

* In ''[[My Name Is Earl]]'', the "chain-of-translators" version is used. And includes sign language, for extra fun, as the lawyer is deaf.

* There are a few jokes in ''[[Babylon 5]]'' about Ivanova's ineptitude in speaking the Minbari language. Also one serious moment, when Marcus [[Cannot Spit It Out|is only brave enough]] to call Ivanova beautiful in Minbari; when she asks for a translation, he gives what is probably a technically-correct (given Minbari's flowery prose) translation which weakens the meaning. Later on, after Ivanova has learned the language, she thanks him -- herhim—her [[Photographic Memory]] let her remember, and then translate, the phrase properly.

** There is also a very funny scene involving Elliot trying to talk past a patient's kid with Turk in French. Turk's knowledge of that language is evidently limited to what his high-school classmates taught him. The subtitles are roughly accurate. What Elliot says is quite literate. What does Turk say? "I have the Eiffel Tower in my pants." I might add that he says it badly -- whatbadly—what he says translates word-for-word as "I have Eiffel Tower pants."

** Bit of a nitpick, but he actually says "Where is the mucus?", not "Show me the mucus".

* Again, Sheldon on ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'', describes his team for "The Physics Bowl", consisting of the Third Floor Janitor, the Lunch Room Lady and a guy who (due to Sheldon's poor skills on Spanish) is either her son or her butcher.

* At the end of one episode of ''[[MASHM*A*S*H (television)|M*A*S*H]]'' it turns out that Hawkeye has taught the Koreans that the correct response to Frank Burns calling him a "twerp" is: "You tell it to him, Ferretface!"

* Donovan Deegan, father of ''[[Dominic Deegan]]'''s title character, speaks Orcish - to some degree. When he received the Orc name "Kulka Sheendo Dak," he was told it meant "bringer of peace and joy." Appropriate as that would have been, he found out many years later that "bringer of peace and joy" was "Kilka Shiendo Dak." As Donovan proudly dressed in pink most of the time, they had named him "little pink man in pink." His Orcish provided comedy on other instances as well, with such statements as "[https://web.archive.org/web/20071028212547/http://www.zestuff.com/dd/apparel/498/ My land mass erupts with kittens.]"

** Recently, it's revealed that Donovan has not only been providing Fun With Languages, he's been {{spoiler|having his own fun with languages. He speaks perfectly fluent Orcish, coming out with a profound "I believe it goes, '<It is not the language of the clans but the language of nature to which one has to listen.>'}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20130121141150/http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2010-01-12 Cue WTF faces from all present.]

'''Hukthak:''' <&lt;I knew it!>&gt; }}

* In ''[[Faux Pas]]'', which focuses on an assortment of animals (foxes, rabbits, cats, a chicken...) and gives a few faceless humans only incidental roles, nearly all of the various animals are quite capable of understanding human speech. Because [[Status Quo Is God]], though, [[Failure Is the Only Option]] when the animals attempt to make themselves understood by whichever humans presently have control over their lives. Thus, the chicken, Myrtle, is able to read ''and'' write... but her "handwriting" is so poor that the humans can't quite make sense of it (even though, whenever readers are shown a page of her writing, Myrtle's "chicken-scratch" [[Informed Attribute|is perfectly legible]]). More to the point: when a new character is introduced --- a cockatiel uninspiredly named Cocky --- who "can speak human, for real," ...it turns out that Cocky is fluent in "''French'' human," and comically inept with English. So, when the fox who urgently ''needs'' a translator asks Cocky to tell the humans this or that, Cocky ends up with gems like: "M'sieur! This girl fox photo of your wildest dreaming to begin? This fox Randy, she is not he!" (Which actually makes close enough sense, in context, but the human doesn't get it.)

* The Spanish swearword "cojones" (balls), when used by English-speakers, is occasionally misspelt or mispronounced as "cajones" (furniture drawers). [[Hilarity Ensues]].

* The Lewis and Clark expedition had a headache with this. The explorers spoke English and French, but not the native languages. Charbonneau, their Mountain Man guide, spoke French and Hidatsa. Sacagawea spoke Hidatsa (as she had been a long-term captive of that tribe) and Shoshone (her native language). Negotiations with the Shoshone got...interesting.

[[Category:Fun with Foreign Languages{{PAGENAME}}]]